Learn Hardcore Malay: Kalau kami menabung bersama, barulah cukup wang untuk bercuti di luar negara. - If we save together, only then will there be enough money to holiday overseas.

Kalau kami menabung bersama… implies that “we” refers to a group that does not include the listener.
For example, a husband talking about himself and his wife, to a friend:
- If we (my wife and I) save together, then we’ll have enough money…

If the speaker wanted to include the listener in the saving plan, they would say:

Kalau kita menabung bersama, barulah cukup wang…
= If we (you and I, and maybe others) save together, then we’ll have enough money…

What does menabung mean exactly, and is it specifically about money?

Menabung is a verb that means “to save (money)”, especially in the sense of setting money aside regularly, like putting money into a savings account or a piggy bank.

Root: tabung = container, fund, savings box/piggy bank.
meN- prefix → menabung = to save money (put money into that fund/savings).

Examples:

Saya sedang menabung untuk beli kereta.
I’m saving (money) to buy a car.
Anak-anak digalakkan menabung dari kecil.
Children are encouraged to save from a young age.

You usually don’t use menabung for saving other things like time or energy. It’s specifically about money; for other things, different verbs are used.

Why is bersama placed after menabung, and can you put it somewhere else?

In menabung bersama, the basic structure is:

menabung = to save money
bersama = together

So menabung bersama means “to save (money) together”.

This order (verb + bersama) is very natural:

Kami menabung bersama. = We save together.

You can also say:

Kami bersama-sama menabung.
We together save (money). – more emphasis on “together”.
Kami menabung sama-sama. (more colloquial)
We save money together.

But you wouldn’t normally split it in a way like:

✗ Kami bersama menabung. – understood, but sounds a bit awkward in this context.

So menabung bersama is the most natural and straightforward phrasing here.

What does barulah mean, and why is it used instead of just baru?

Barulah here means “only then” / “then and only then” and adds emphasis to the result of the condition.

Kalau kami menabung bersama, barulah cukup wang…
= If we save together, *only then will there be enough money…*

Breakdown:

baru on its own can mean:
- just now / recently – Saya baru makan. (I just ate.)
- only then – Kalau buat begini, baru betul. (If you do it like this, then it’s correct.)
-lah is a particle that often softens or emphasizes the word it’s attached to.

So:

baru = then / only then (neutral)
barulah = then / only then, with a bit more emphasis or a smoother, more natural flow.

You could say:

Kalau kami menabung bersama, baru cukup wang…

This is also correct and common. Barulah just makes it sound slightly more emphatic and polished, especially in written or slightly careful speech.

Why is it cukup wang and not wang cukup? How does word order work here?

Cukup means “enough”.

In this sentence:

cukup wang = enough money

This follows the common pattern:

cukup + noun = enough (noun)
- cukup masa = enough time
- cukup alasan = enough reason(s)
- cukup makanan = enough food

If you say wang cukup:

It sounds more like “the money is sufficient”, focusing on the state of the money, not on the quantity needed for something.
Even then, Malay would more naturally say:
- wang itu cukup = the money is enough
- wang kami sudah cukup = our money is already enough

So in this sentence, the phrase cukup wang is behaving like an English noun phrase “enough money”, which is why cukup comes before wang.

Why is there no “will” or future marker like akan in “barulah cukup wang…”?

Malay usually doesn’t mark tense the way English does. Time is often understood from context.

barulah cukup wang literally: only then [is there] enough money
but depending on context, it can mean:
- only then will there be enough money (future)
- only then is there enough money (present/general truth)

You can add akan to make the future clearer:

Kalau kami menabung bersama, barulah akan cukup wang untuk bercuti di luar negara.

Meaning: If we save together, only then will there be enough money to go on holiday abroad.

However, adding “akan” here is not necessary and many native speakers would leave it out; the conditional kalau already suggests a future or hypothetical situation.

What is the difference between cuti and bercuti?

cuti (noun) = leave / holiday / vacation (the time off itself)
- Saya dapat cuti seminggu.
  I got a week’s leave.
bercuti (verb) = to go on holiday / to be on holiday
- Kami bercuti di luar negara.
  We are on holiday abroad / we go on holiday abroad.

In the sentence:

untuk bercuti di luar negara
= to go on holiday abroad

You wouldn’t say:

✗ untuk cuti di luar negara (ungrammatical as a verb)

So remember:

cuti = the holiday (thing)
bercuti = to go/be on holiday (action)

Why is it di luar negara and not ke luar negara?

Both di luar negara and ke luar negara exist, but they focus on slightly different things.

di = at / in / on (location)
ke = to / towards (direction)

In this sentence:

untuk bercuti di luar negara
literally: to holiday *in outside the country → *to go on holiday abroad

Here, bercuti is about the state of being on holiday at a place, so di (location) is natural: you are on holiday in a place.

You would normally use ke luar negara with verbs of movement like pergi (go):

Kami akan pergi ke luar negara.
We will go abroad.

You might also hear:

pergi bercuti ke luar negara
go on holiday abroad (direction + holiday)

So in the original sentence, di luar negara is correct because it describes where the holiday takes place, not the motion of going there.

What’s the difference between wang and duit?

Both wang and duit mean “money”, but there’s a difference in tone/register:

wang – more formal, often written Malay, banking, official contexts.
duit – informal/neutral, common in everyday speech.

In conversation, many people would naturally say:

Kalau kami menabung bersama, baru cukup duit untuk bercuti di luar negara.

In a written article, bank brochure, or exam, wang fits better:

…barulah cukup wang untuk bercuti di luar negara.

Meaning-wise, there’s no change; it’s mostly about formality.

Why do we need untuk before bercuti? Could we say “cukup wang bercuti di luar negara”?

Untuk means “for / to (do something)”, and it introduces the purpose or goal:

cukup wang untuk bercuti di luar negara
= enough money to go on holiday abroad

Patterns:

cukup wang untuk + verb = enough money to + verb
- cukup wang untuk belajar di luar negara
  enough money to study abroad
- cukup masa untuk buat kerja ini
  enough time to do this work

Without untuk, the phrase becomes ungrammatical or very awkward:

✗ cukup wang bercuti di luar negara – incorrect

So untuk is necessary here to clearly link “enough money” with the purpose “to go on holiday abroad”.

Can you give a more casual and a more formal version of this sentence?

Original (neutral):

Kalau kami menabung bersama, barulah cukup wang untuk bercuti di luar negara.

More casual (spoken):

Kalau kami simpan duit sama-sama, baru cukup duit nak pergi bercuti luar negara.

Notes:

simpan duit instead of menabung (more everyday)
sama-sama instead of bersama
baru instead of barulah
nak instead of untuk (very casual “want to / to”)
often di before luar negara is dropped in fast speech

More formal (written/official style):

Jika kami menabung bersama, barulah mencukupi wang untuk bercuti di luar negara.
or
Jika kami menabung bersama, barulah wang kami mencukupi untuk bercuti di luar negara.

These sound like something you might see in an essay, report, or formal text.